Put your perennials to bed properly so they'll bloom again next year. Clear away dead foliage and destroy all weeds. Make sure your garden bed is clean to prevent disease. Perennials that are dormant at a constant temperature rarely have trouble surviving winter months. Snow forms an insulating blanket on the garden. Temperatures in the ground beneath the snow cover always hover around 32 degrees F, while they can plunge far below 0 degrees F immediately above the snow line. Plants with little snow cover can suffer dreadfully during unexpected or unusual cold spells. These need a 2-3 inch organic winter mulch such as shredded leaves. The mulch protects plants from unusual cold spells and helps to maintain a uniform temperature so that the soil does not thaw out prematurely and expand when encrusted with frost and ice particles.

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